Kerkvliet earns second-straight bid to World finals, Figueroa to join in the hunt for gold

ZAGREB, Croatia – On the first day of the 2018 Cadet World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, the U.S. put two wrestlers into tomorrow’s gold-medal finals and have one athlete in the hunt for bronze.

Heading to the World finals are Daniel Greg Kerkvliet at 110 kg and Richard Figueroa at 55 kg, while Abe Assad was pulled into repechage at 80 kg.

“I’d say overall the team’s performance has been solid,” Cadet World coach Lee Pritts said. “I don’t think that we’ve performed up to our team’s ability yet. I remember this time last year after the first round, we were thinking, ‘Oh we’re in trouble,’ but Kevin Jackson brought the team in, had a conversation, and next thing you know, we were working together as a unit. We did the same thing this and said ‘You have to go take these wins. No one is going to give them to you.’”

To seal his second-consecutive appearance in the Cadet World finals was Kerkvliet, who, weighing 10 kg less, edged out Cadet European champion Sergey Kozyrev with a 2-2 win on criteria. Continue reading at teamusa.org